Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 160 Return to Chang'an

The next day, Huan Wen went to the ferry to see off Sima Xingnan. He was still reluctant to leave a moment ago, waving goodbye to his wife. When the boat gradually moved away and disappeared into the river mist, Huan Wen's expression immediately changed. He turned around and couldn't wait. He suggested to Xi Chao:

"Jingxing, would you like to go with me to study Buddhism today?"

Xi Chao said solemnly:

"How can my lord hang around in a temple with nuns as his companions all day long?"

Huan Wen was shocked. He remembered clearly that it was Xi Chao who led him the way and opened the door to a new world. Who are you trying to show by your sanctimonious appearance now?

Thinking like this, Huan Wen looked back again, fearing that the boat Sima Xingnan was on would return to the ferry.

Seeing that there was only thick fog on the river, Huan Wen breathed a sigh of relief and was about to ask Xi Chao what medicine was being sold in the gourd.

But Xi Chao changed the subject and said with a smile:

"However, the official knows that a Taoist temple has opened not far away. My lord should also read the Tao Te Ching occasionally and learn from others' strengths. How can he just study Buddhism?"

Huan Wen took a breath:

"Jingxing why didn't you tell me earlier!"

Thinking of those charming women in Taoist uniforms, Huan Wen became more determined to follow Taoism, and he actually abandoned Buddhism and followed Taoism.

In fact, these so-called nunneries and Taoist temples are just places for flesh and blood to satisfy the curiosity of some dignitaries, and are not real places for spiritual cultivation.

Although Huan Wen wanted to go now, he still had to ask his confidants to check inside and outside to make sure there was no danger before he could go.

The nuns and Taoist nuns who serve them will also be carefully searched by maids to confirm that they are not carrying sharp weapons before they are allowed to enter.

Not to mention how the old slave studied Taoist classics in the Taoist temple, the news that Huan Xi took Liangzhou had already reached Jiangdong one step ahead of Sima Xingnan.

King Sima Yu of Kuaiji had a livid face, showing no joy at all in regaining Liangzhou.

He is filled with regret now. If he had known this would happen, he should have withstood Huan Wen's pressure and left Sima Xun in Liangzhou.

At that time, Huan Wen conquered the Cheng Han Dynasty and captured the two prefectures of Yi and Ning and the four counties of Liangzhou. With the threat of annihilation, he forced the court to transfer Sima Xun, the governor of Liangzhou, and appointed his confidant Yuan Qiao as the governor of Liangzhou.

Yuan Qiao died of illness soon, which gave Huan Xi the opportunity to leave Liangzhou and expand northward.

Now Huanxi occupies the four prefectures of Yong, Liang, Qin, and Liang, and Huanwen occupies the two prefectures of Jing and Jiang, and he also oversees the military affairs of the four prefectures of Yi, Ning, Guang, and Jiao.

After the Western Jin Dynasty destroyed Wu, there were twenty states including Si, Yu, Yan, Qing, Xu, Ji, You, Ping, Bing, Yong, Liang, Qin, Yi, Liang, Ning, Jing, Jiang, Yang, Jiao and Guang. , the Huan family has directly or indirectly controlled the ten states, and has truly controlled half of the world.

For Huan Wen today, he only needs to control Yangzhou and thus the imperial court. Regardless of whether he pacifies the Central Plains or not, he can start the process of proclaiming himself emperor.

Not only Sima Yu knew this, but even the Empress Dowager Chu and the twelve-year-old little emperor were also worried about this.

For Empress Dowager Chu, the only good thing is that she seems to have a good personal relationship with Huan Xi. Thinking about it, one day, the Huan family will replace the Jin Dynasty and treat the founder of the Jin Dynasty Sima Yan like Cao Huan, the leader of the Kingdom of Cao Wei. Their mother and son can have a happy death.

After Sima Yan usurped the Wei Dynasty, he granted Cao Huan the title of King of Chenliu and granted him a house for thousands of households. He arranged for Cao Huan to live in a palace in Yecheng. He was allowed to use the etiquette of the emperor, perform the upright conduct of the Wei state, and refuse to submit to the throne when writing letters.

Cao Huan lived in Yecheng for thirty-seven years, and he did not die of illness until the Eight Kings Rebellion. The courtesy and ending he enjoyed could be said to be the best among all the subjugated kings in the past dynasties.

After all, even Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was only named Shanyang Gong and did not live in a palace.

Of course, the reason why Sima Yan was so kind was because he wanted to downplay the crimes committed by his father, Sima Zhao.

As a minister, he actually dared to attack and kill the emperor in the street. Sima Zhao was the first one since the beginning of the world.

In order to calm down the public anger, Sima Zhao had no choice but to attack Chengji, who had killed Cao Wei Emperor Cao Mao for him, and annihilated the Chengji clan.

It can be seen that the bad impact caused by this matter, Sima Zhao no longer even considered whether it would chill the hearts of his subordinates.

However, no matter how Sima Yan tried to remedy the situation, the powerful ministers who usurped the throne would no longer be as affectionate as in the past. Sima Zhao had finally set a precedent for regicide in public.

Empress Dowager Chu only hoped that the Huan family could imitate Sima Yan, but never imitate Sima Zhao.

Compared to his mother who was cautious and cautious, and was already looking for a way out after abdication, the twelve-year-old emperor was ambitious and hoped to revive the Jin Dynasty.

Therefore, Huan Xi's expedition against Liang was a huge blow to the young emperor Sima Dan. When the Empress Dowager Chu wrote a secret letter and sent someone to Chang'an to congratulate Huan Xi on his great achievements again, Sima Dan was depressed all day long.

Those who were loyal to the Jin Dynasty could be described as gloomy and gloomy. It was under such a situation that Sima Xingnan came to Jiankang.

She showed off her son's abilities to others in Jiankang City, but the court had to protect her safety. Once Sima Xingnan was assassinated in Jiankang, Huan Wen would be given an excuse to send troops to Jiangdong.

If it were a more ruthless powerful minister, he might have murdered his wife just for this excuse.

After all, judging from the current situation, as long as he controls the court, Huan Wen can prepare to proclaim himself emperor.

But Huan Wen was Sima Xingnan's old slave after all. Even though he often secretly lamented that he was a prince but could not be free, if anyone dared to make this suggestion to him, he would be asking for death.

If the relationship between husband and wife is not deep and he is grateful for his wife's help, then with Huan Wen's status, why should he be afraid of her.

Huan Xi is the son of Sima Xingnan. Could it be that Huan Wen is not Huan Xi's father?

Moreover, if Huan Xi discovers the truth about this kind of thing, there is no chance that father and son will turn against each other.

Therefore, for Sima Xingnan, it was absolutely safe to travel between Jiangling and Jiankang without any danger. Otherwise, how could Huan Wen let her leave with confidence.

On February 354, the tenth year of Yonghe (AD ), Deng Qiang was still marching in Weibei Shayuan, while Huan Xi had already arrived outside Chang'an City.

Zhang Yu'er got off the carriage and looked at the ancient capital of the Western Han Dynasty in front of her, feeling nervous in her heart.

Although Li Yuan told her more than once during the trip that Huan Xi's wife Xie Daoyun was not a jealous or shrewish woman, Zhang Yu'er was still a little worried.

In ancient times, the male dominated the outside and the female dominated the household. If the concubine was disliked by the legitimate wife, life would certainly be difficult, and it was inevitable to set rules for others.

Xie Daoyun is now pregnant with her second child and is approaching the due date, so naturally she will not go out of the city to meet her. However, Han Yan is also pregnant and has difficulty moving, so she has never come.

Huan Xi was talking to the officials waiting in front. Zhang Yuer looked to the side where Li Yuan was twisting her handkerchief nervously and asked:

"Sister, why is this happening?"

Hearing this, Li Yuan relaxed and smiled at her:

"When you become a mother in the future, you will know how anxious I am today."

She had been separated from her daughter Luo Niang for several months, and she really missed her deeply.

Zhang Yuer is depressed and becomes a mother? She looked at Huan Xi in front of her and thought to herself: I'm afraid I have to wait for a few more years.

Huan Xi didn't talk to Wang Meng and others for too long. He was now anxious to go back to meet his wife, concubines and children.

After greetings, Huan Xi and Wang Meng sat in the same car. This had been their habit for many years. Wang Meng would take advantage of the opportunity to go to Weiyang Palace to report on some important work for Huan Xi.

As we all know, Huan Xi always gives himself a few days off whenever he returns from an expedition. Unless it is a major military or national event, he will not pay attention to it.

In the carriage, Wang Meng mentioned the rewards to the soldiers guarding Gao Wang. Huan Xi pondered for a moment and said:

"According to past rules, all soldiers who participated in the defense of the city were rewarded with a piece of cloth as a reward for their hard work, including Shi Jian (Chen Jin)'s troops. For each enemy killed, they were given another piece of cloth. As for the state and county soldiers who responded to the call, Then they will be exempted from the corvee service this year, and no other rewards are needed." After all, the 20,000 state and county soldiers under Deng Qiang's command only made a trip from Chang'an to Puban, Huan Xi can just exempt them from the corvee service this year, without any other reward.

Of course, the deployment of soldiers from these states and counties will not affect their family's harvest.

Even if there are no plowing oxen or plows at home, the local government will dispatch them for their families, and they can cultivate the land just by relying on their wives and children.

In fact, it is natural for Huanxi to reward the soldiers with cloth for their hard work. After all, when a battle is won, all three armies are usually rewarded. He just defined the so-called "all rewards" as rewards for hard work.

Of course, the hard work of the soldiers fighting the cold was heavier, so they got more cloth.

Walking two thousand miles in the wind and snow is indeed not an easy task.

Wang Meng had no objection to Huan Xi's arrangement. He asked Huan Xi for instructions and ordered to transport 10,000 pieces of cloth to Hedong County today.

Huan Xi readily agreed.

At the same time, Huan Xi brought up the matter of selling eliminated military horses to the people with Wang Meng. This matter naturally had to be left to Wang Meng to take charge.

Wang Meng agreed immediately, and there was no need to doubt Wang Meng's enthusiasm for selling low-quality military horses to the people.

Huan Xi is a hands-off shopkeeper, and Wang Meng needs to worry about all aspects of Guanlong, including financial issues.

Selling military horses can subsidize fiscal revenue and reduce the cost of feeding these military horses. Wang Meng is certainly positive about this.

Although the dealers may not be able to swallow the 20,000 eliminated military horses, there are bound to be people who are willing to buy the horses so that their children can practice riding skills in the hope of gaining fame and wealth on the battlefield in the future.

Unlike Jiangnan, which despises warriors, the Guanlong area has had a martial culture since ancient times.

This is also the third reason why Huan Xi did not trade with Huan Wen, but wanted to sell horses among the people. After all, in addition to subsidizing the finances and promoting the circulation of goods, it could also cultivate a group of young people who were skilled in riding horses.

Whether it is future military expansion or personnel recruitment after the war, Huan Xi needs to have such a reserve force.

The carriage drove to the gate of Weiyang Palace. Huan Xi said goodbye to Wang Meng and walked into the palace with Li Yuan and Zhang Yu'er.

As for Zhang Yuer's family, Shen Jin's son Shen Chiqian took them there for resettlement.

A Xiping Palace has been prepared in Chang'an City for a long time to accommodate Zhang Jun's wife Yan, Zhang Tianxi, Zhang Yaoling, and Zhang Xuanliang's uncle and nephew.

As for Zhang Tianxi's mother, Mrs. Liu, and Zhang Xuanliang's mother, Guo Jiang, they were sent to a nunnery to be trained and cultivated. Of course, this was just to hide it from others. In fact, they were kept in the nunnery as Huan Xi's aunt. .

After all, if they really let the two of them live together with their families, sooner or later their flaws would be revealed.

Huan Xi returned to Weiyang Palace and led Li Yuan and Zhang Yu'er straight to Jiaofang Palace.

As concubines, they naturally had to meet Xie Daoyun first when they returned to Chang'an.

From a distance, Huan Xi saw two little ones playing together outside Jiaofang Hall. It was Aman and Luo Niang.

Aman was born in the Mid-Autumn Festival of the seventh year of Yonghe (AD 351). According to ancient calculations, he is now four years old. His hair is combed into two buns, like the two corners of the head, the same hairstyle as Luo Niang.

"Aman! Luo Niang!"

Huan Xi shouted happily.

When the brother and sister saw that their father was back, they happily ran over holding their little hands.

Although Aman is young, she is not naughty. Xie Daoyun can be called a strict mother, which can be seen from her strict discipline of Xie Xuan.

Compared to Xie Daoyun, Huan Xi plays the role of a loving father, and he even plays with his children in his spare time.

Therefore, Aman and Luoniang have been afraid of their mother since they were sensible, and they also love their father more.

Huan Xi knelt down, opened his arms, embraced the cheering two people, and got intimate with them as if no one else was around.

When Huan Xi stood up and pushed Luo Niang in front of Li Yuan, Li Yuan held her in tears, making Luo Niang cry too.

Xie Daoyun had already heard the noise outside the palace, and was helped out by the maid with a heavy belly.

When Huan Xi saw this, he quickly left Aman behind and went to greet him. He blamed him:

"Why don't you wait in the house."

Xie Daoyun shook his head and said:

"It's only a few steps away. My husband has said before that I can't always stay in Jiaofang Hall, but I should come out to get some air."

Saying that, Xie Daoyun looked at Zhang Yu'er behind Huan Xi and asked:

"This must be sister Yu'er."

Although according to etiquette, taking a concubine requires the consent of the head wife, Xie Daoyun knew that Huan Xi took Zhang Yu'er as a concubine just to appease the people of Liangzhou.

Moreover, she is not a jealous woman, so she can naturally accept Zhang Yu'er generously.

Zhang Yu'er hurriedly saluted Xie Daoyun, not daring to show any disrespect.

Since ancient times, the male protagonist and the female protagonist, although the side wife also has a status, if she offends the main wife, life will not be easy after all.

Unless there is really someone who can spoil a concubine and destroy his wife.

"Sister, there is no need to be polite."

Xie Daoyun said, looking at Zhang Yu'er, he couldn't help but secretly praise: What a beautiful woman.

Although Zhang Yu'er is only thirteen years old, she has a lovely appearance, otherwise Zhang Zuo wouldn't have been scheming about her.

At this time, Li Yuan had also wiped away her tears and came to salute Xie Daoyun.

Xie Daoyun's relationship with Li Yuan has always been very good, and now that he is reunited with her, he is naturally happy.

Everyone entered the Jiaofang Hall. Li Yuan sat for a while, then took Luo Niang and Zhang Yu'er to say goodbye to Huan Xi.

Huan Xi sent Aman away as well. He didn't want this kid to disturb his time with his wife.

　Thanks to book friend 20240104144648535 for the reward.

　　The task of 1W2 is completed today, and it will be 1W2 tomorrow.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)